


Better together

by sylviarachel



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Coming Out, Flash Fic, Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, news article as fic, really just unapologetic fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-16 21:33:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8118340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylviarachel/pseuds/sylviarachel
Summary: EXCLUSIVE: Falconers' Jack Zimmermann opens up about getting the C, his work with kids, the charities closest to his heart--and planning his wedding with his college linemate(Or: This morning on the bus I read a newspaper interview with Brooks Laich over someone's shoulder. Then this happened. Written in about half an hour; caveat lector!)Characters, setting, and fictional NHL teams property of the great and powerful ngoziu!





	

**EXCLUSIVE: Falconers' Jack Zimmermann opens up about getting the C, his work with kids, the charities closest to his heart--and planning his wedding with his college linemate**

Thirty-year-old Jack Zimmermann has centered the Falconers' first line since signing with the team as a free agent in 2015, and has consistently been one of their top performers--on the ice and off. The franchise took a chance on Zimmermann, whose troubled history made him a less than sure bet despite his undeniable talent and his stellar record in the NCAA, and their confidence in him has paid off in spades: since the 2015/16 season, the Falcs have made the playoffs every year and the Stanley Cup finals twice, culminating in this past season's win over the Seattle Schooners. So the only person surprised when he was named captain last week was Zimmermann himself.

"It's humbling," says the three-time NCAA captain and Hobey Baker Award nominee. "I wasn't expecting it. It's a responsibility I take very seriously--hockey is a team sport, and it means a lot to me that my team sees me as a leader and trusts me to speak for them on the ice."

[photo: The Falconers, led by retiring Captain Jean-François Martin, hoisting the Stanley Cup following their Game 7 playoff win]

A few days after his 30th birthday--also his Cup Day, which he spent with family and friends at his parents' summer home in Nova Scotia--Zimmermann is back in Providence, doing some of the things he does best: talking strategy with the Falconers' coaches, starting his pre-season conditioning, and--a fan favorite--skating with members of the Junior Falcs kids' fan club, including the sons and daughters of several teammates.

"I spent a year or so coaching peewee hockey in Montreal before college," he explains. "I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. Kids are very direct, they're passionate about the things that matter to them. It really helped me get some perspective. Coaching also gave me an opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of a few kids who were struggling--not with hockey, but with other things in their lives." 

It's a long speech for the famously laconic Jack Zimmermann; this is clearly something that matters to him.

On the ice, Zimmermann was responsible for fully one-third of his team's points last season; off the ice, he's an equally determined campaigner for his chosen charities, the [American Foundation for Suicide Prevention](http://www.afsp.org/) and the [Trevor Project](http://www.thetrevorproject.org/), which focuses on crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBT youth. Over the past two years, as well as lending his famous face to upcoming public awareness campaigns for both organizations and for the [You Can Play Project](http://www.youcanplayproject.org/), he's been remarkably open about the reasons for his choices, and--following in the footsteps of a fellow Canadian athlete, Olympic cyclist and speed skater Clara Hughes--about his lifelong struggles with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and his accidental prescription drug overdose at age 18.

[photo: Jack Zimmermann and teammates Alexei Mashkov, Jean-François Martin, Jerome Robinson, and Ryan Snow attend a fundraiser for You Can Play]

"Our sports culture needs to change," he says, with emphasis. "The level of pressure on young athletes is incredible, and can be incredibly unhealthy--not just for the ones like me who already struggle with depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues, but potentially for anyone. Some pressure is inevitable, but it's easy to take it too far, and to fail to provide the support that young players also need. The Falconers organization and my teammates have truly had my back since I joined the team, in every possible way, and that's a big part of what's allowed me to contribute to the team's success."

It's typical of Zimmermann, perhaps more than any other big-name NHL player, that he frames his own tremendous success as an individual in this way.

What's really new for Jack Zimmermann this summer, though?

"Wedding planning," he says, shaking his head with a rueful smile. "If I'd known it was going to be like this, I'd have insisted we elope."

[photo: Falconers Captain Jack Zimmermann with fiancé Eric Bittle, owner of Bitty's Pies & Pastry Café on Washington St. and star of the YouTube channel You Can Bake, at home in Providence]

Zimmermann and his college linemate Eric Bittle have been an item since the summer of 2015 and engaged since last fall. Zimmermann's choice to make his public coming-out about his engagement rather than his sexuality specifically (when asked, he explains that he identifies as bisexual, his fiancé as gay) was driven by a desire to help normalize the presence of LGBTQ athletes in pro sports. "We just announced it like the Falcs' PR team would announce any other player's engagement," he says. "With a nice photo on Instagram and a congratulations tweet or whatever."

(Bittle, it will surprise no one to hear, is the social media aficionado in their relationship.)

"It wasn't news to the team or to management. It wasn't news to our families or our friends. And, you know. I'm here to play hockey, and that's what I hope people will focus on."

He's understandably unwilling to disclose details of the big event, but confirms that skating will be involved for those guests who are willing and able; that the entire Falconers organization, from the owners to the ice crew, will be invited; and that he's persuaded his fiancé to enlist outside catering help. "Eric's a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to food," he says. "I know he'd love for him and his staff to do it all themselves, but I think it would be too much stress, and the last thing I want his wedding day to be is stressful."

Jack Zimmermann's second decade began in some pretty grim circumstances, but he's managed to turn things around--and then some. How's he feeling about life as he begins his thirties?

"Good," he says. "Really good. I'm in a great place, both in my career and personally. Winning the Stanley Cup has been a lifelong dream, obviously, and to win with this team, these guys? I couldn't be happier. But knowing that I'm signing up to spend the rest of my life with Eric? That's ..." He pauses, thinking seriously. "You have to understand, any success I've had in the NHL is as much Eric's as mine. He's been making me a better player and a better person for a very long time now. The big wedding is mainly for our friends and family; for us, we're just making something official that we already know, which is ... we're better together."

**Author's Note:**

> I've invented first names for Thirdy (Robinson) and Marty (Martin), and a full name for Snowy. But all the links to organizations are real!
> 
>  **Edited** to correct a massive and embarrassing error: although Catriona Lemay Doan is also awesome, I actually meant Clara Hughes.


End file.
